The Layman
Commissioners to the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) each have received a letter from more than 1,000 American Jewish leaders asking them to vote against the various boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) proposals slated for assembly debate.
Along with a PCUSA committee’s call for divestment from three companies that do business with Israel there’s another eight resolutions and overtures targeting Israel.
“We are concerned that despite our shared objectives, the Presbyterian-Jewish relationship in America is headed in the wrong direction,” the letter reads. “We need a new way forward. We are ready for a more constructive relationship. We invite you to join us and start by sending a message that when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Presbyterian peacemakers work for reconciliation, investment, and understanding of conflicting narratives rather than inciting further conflict. We are ready to join you in this new way. Will you join us?”
The PCUSA’s Committee on Mission Responsibility through Investment (MRTI), is bringing a measure before the 2014 assembly that is almost identical to a measure defeated at the 2012 assembly by a narrow vote of 333-331.
“At least seven presbytery overtures, plus another denominational agency’s resolution, will also press the attack against Israel. Only one overture advocates a more reconciling approach that refrains from harsh words and punitive actions targeted against the Jewish state,” according to a Layman article by Alan F.H. Wisdom.
Signed by 1,450 rabbis, cantors, and rabbinical and cantorial students, the letter states that “We are deeply concerned that the PCUSA is considering several overtures that would threaten the prospects for future peace. Oversimplifying a complex conflict and placing all the blame on one party, when both bear responsibility, increases conflict and division instead of promoting peace, reconciliation and mutual understanding.”
Issues of concern include:
- “The role of peacemaker is irreconcilable with positions that promote economic coercion through boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), and consequently discourage, rather than encourage, constructive engagement … If we truly want to help both parties, we should encourage reconciliation, investment and a negotiated solution, instead of boycotts and divestments.
- “… We are deeply disturbed to see an overture calling for the PCUSA to reconsider the Church’s commitment to a two-state solution. Adoption of that stance would be tragic. It is wrong to deny the Palestinian people their right to a state and it is also equally wrong to deny the Jewish people the right to a state.
- “But what most reflects and magnifies our sadness is the promulgation of an explicitly anti-Zionist congregational study guide that remains for sale on the church’s website. Entitled Zionism Unsettled, it labels the national movement of the Jewish people, Zionism, and Israel, its expression, as ‘false theology,’ ‘heretical doctrine,’ ‘evil,’ ‘pathology,’ ‘racism,’ and ‘cultural genocide.’ Those characterizations are not only at wide variance with the facts, but are also extraordinarily hurtful and incendiary. No one truly committed to peace and reconciliation should use that kind of vocabulary to describe either side. Nothing, including the assertion that the Israel/Palestine Mission Network speaks ‘to’ but not ‘for’ the Presbyterian Church (USA), can justify the PCUSA leadership’s silence on, and toleration of, Zionism Unsettled and the PCUSA’s distribution of it
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Renewed barrage of overtures targets Israel for PCUSA rebuke
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I believe the present confrontation between the so-called Palestinians and the Israelis will never be settled. Why? Because neither side knows to bring Jesus into the mix. Here is an opportunity that seems to be slipping away. Boycotting is not the answer, but the Presbyterian love of peacemaking might be the best opportunity to practice the triad of ‘Repentence, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation’.
The problem, as I see it, is: how do we inject Christian values into this stalemate? We have their attention. We have their ear. The opportunity exists. We are not serving God if we let it slip by.
“The role of peacemaker is irreconcilable with positions that promote economic coercion through boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS),”
From Overture 04-02 ro the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the Presbytery of San Francisco:
a. the building and security of illegal Israeli settlements, which U.S. foreign policy, and most recent U.N. fact-finding mission determine to be an obstacle to peace;
b. the construction and maintenance of walls and fences that illegally encroach upon Palestinian lands, destroying Palestinian rights to own property and pursue livelihoods;
c. the management of checkpoints that dehumanize Palestinians and cut off innocent civilians from their property and natural resources;
d. contributing to and profiting from the relentless, five decade long, military occupation of the Palestinian territories.
1 Samuel 7:13-15:
“13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.